Scheduled to face Mike Russow in the main event of Adrenaline MMA’s debut show in Chicago, Jeff Monson has been forced to pull out of the match due to a not-quite-healed broken hand that he sustained in his Sengoku II bout against Josh Barnett last month. Replacing Monson will be Jason Guida, a Chicago-based fighter (and brother of UFC lightweight Clay Guida) who has built a record of 17-15 in various regional organizations. It’s an odd choice considering Guida has competed mostly as a middleweight, two weight classes under Russow, but according to Adrenaline honcho Monte Cox:
“It made sense for me at this point to go with two Chicago guys fighting each other. And they come from different camps in the same city and I just thought, you know what, this will probably sell me more tickets than anyone I can get on a week’s notice.”
Jeff Monson is still officially on the Godz of War card in Charlotte, even though it takes place just one week later. Saddled with a dodgy hand, the Snowman probably knew that he wouldn’t be able to compete on consecutive weekends, and was forced to make a decision — and it looks like he went with the higher-profile opponent in Ricco Rodriguez.
The source for this one is a bit shaky, but Fightline is passing along news that Ben Rothwell will indeed be taking on Andrei Arlovski at Affliction: Banned (July 19th; Anaheim, CA) according to a Sherdog thread where Rothwell personally confirms it. As Rothwell writes:
I tried to never say if i was/was not fighting AA but most all the forum took it that way, sorry i guess.
anyway I’m excited to fight a top10 HW, so thanks for the support, peace
CagePotato reported this rumor two weeks ago, but there has been no official statement from the organization yet. Speaking of Arlovski, the Pitbull’s presence in an upcoming Adrenaline MMA meet-and-greet could suggest that he will fight for that outfit as well.
In other non-UFC news…
— HDNet has agreed to broadcast Adrenaline MMA’s first three fight cards. The first one is going down June 14th in Chicago (headlined by Jeff Monson vs. Mike Russow), and the second is slated for September 6th in Moline, Illinois, and will feature Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell; yep, just like the first Affliction show. Personally, we wouldn’t book Tim to fight less than two months after throwing down with Fedor Emelianenko, but hey, we’re not Monte Cox.
New York — Fans unable to attend the first Adrenaline MMA event on June 14 at the Sears Center Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., will be able to watch the event live on HDNet.
Adrenaline CEO Monte Cox has announced a deal for the Mark Cuban-owned HDNet to carry the event’s first three shows live. “We [...]
(Randy Couture: Even his cauliflower ear is smiling.)
Yesterday, the District Court of Dallas County, Texas, denied three motions filed by Zuffa to stay, delay, and/or dismiss HDNet’s challenge of Couture’s promotional contract with the UFC. Zuffa claims that Couture still owes them two bouts on his contract, while Couture is arguing that the contract will expire in July, after its 16-month term concludes.
The decision will now allow HDNet’s motion for a summary judgment to be heard on June 2nd. HDNet first brought this suit against Zuffa in February, stating that they had a business arrangement with Couture that required a decision on his promotional contract status with the company. If this leg of Couture’s legal marathon goes his way, he’ll be an official free-agent once the one-year non-compete clause in his employment contract expires in October, and will finally be able to set up a fight with his personal white whale, Fedor Emelianenko.
In a separate lawsuit being heard in Las Vegas, Zuffa is suing Couture for breach of contract stemming from his (and Xtreme Couture’s) former association with the IFL. Zuffa is also seeking a ruling on Couture’s fight contract, though a judgment in Texas could affect Zuffa’s case. Or, for you law school geeks, “due to the legal doctrines of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and the full faith and credit clause, the first ruling issued will most likely decide the matter.” I don’t know what that means, and I don’t want to know. But come on, Zuffa — can we just let Fedor kick Randy’s ass so we can all move on with our lives?
FIGHT! Magazine’s June issue hits newsstands this week, containing articles on Jens Pulver and Lyoto Machida, as well as the following piece on the current state of competition in the MMA industry. Provided exclusively to CagePotato.com by FIGHT!, “Brave New World” features EliteXC’s Gary Shaw, Strikeforce’s Michael Afromowitz, and HDNet’s Mark Cuban weighing in on how they plan to survive and succeed in the vast shadow of the Octagon.
***
By Matthew Ross
First it was Royce vs. Ken on closed-circuit pay-per-view. Then came Forrest vs. Stephan on basic cable. Now? It’s the UFC vs. everybody else, coming to you live on enough channels to give your TiVo a nervous breakdown.
Welcome to a new era of MMA.
First, a recap. In 2005, Dana White and Spike TV revolutionized mixed martial arts with the advent of The Ultimate Fighter reality series, which introduced the channel’s historically frat boy-esque demographic to the world of organized ass-kicking. The results were rapid and dramatic. TUF skyrocketed up the Nielsen charts and Spike began airing live, high-quality UFC cards. What had once been a fringe sub-culture whose following in the U.S. consisted of fighters and a small but dedicated army of diehard fans had now become a mainstream attraction. New gyms began popping up in strip malls all over America. Guys like Chuck, Tito, and Randy became household names, and dudes could throw out terms like rear-naked choke and Thai clinch around their girlfriends without getting slapped in the face.
By the end of 2007, UFC championship bouts were regularly covered by the national news outlets, and the brightest stars had graced the covers of ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Men’s Fitness. As Dana White would tell any reporter who’d listen: “We’ve arrived.†Not since Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, and the rest of the Dogtown Z-Boys showed the world how to catch air with a piece of plywood and some polyurethane wheels had any sport ever gotten so big, so fast.
Not surprisingly, fans and journalists weren’t the only ones who caught wind of what was going down. Spike and the UFC may have gotten the ball rolling, but a bevy of broadcasters have teamed up with one or more of the savvy new MMA promotions to get a piece of the pie. While the empire created by Dana White and the Fertitta family shows no sign of ceding its title to any of the young upstarts, it’s impossible to deny that the UFC is no longer the only game in town. They may have the best overall roster of fighters and biggest brand recognition in the game, but things are about to get interesting.
(As a rabid Dallas Mavericks fan, Fedor’s going to be very, very disappointed.)
Affliction’s first MMA show — previously slated to be held July 19th in Dallas, featuring the fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Tim Sylvia — has hit a major speed-bump, as it has reportedly lost its venue as well as a TV deal. FiveOuncesofPain bears the bad news that an agreement between Affliction and HDNet has fallen through, and Affliction was not able to book the American Airlines Arena as the venue for its debut card; according to Randy Couture on Saturday night’s installment of Rear Naked Radio, the event could instead be held at The Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. Perhaps more important than the venue change, Affliction’s up-in-smoke relationship with HDNet means they’ll have to find another TV broadcast partner. It was rumored that HDNet was going to televise several matches from the undercard on July 19th to drive buys for a live pay-per-view telecast, then air the tape-delayed main card a week later.
The failed deal follows a previous botched partnership between Affliction and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. At a recent press conference, De La Hoya shed some light on why his promotion company stepped back from Affliction’s upstart MMA league:
“We decided that we are going to focus all our energies on promoting boxing. Boxing is the game that we have to focus on because there’s so much room for growth and the potential is enormous. We definitely want to capitalize on that and have all our focus and energy be on taking boxing to another level…MMA is going through some very rough patches and transition issues…recently two companies that are public had FCC filings that raised doubt about their ability to continue [ed. note: Referring to the IFL and EliteXC]. We want to see what’s going to happen with the sport. Maybe we will enter the MMA business to diversify in the future.”
Fine, Oscar — don’t be a pioneer.
In an unrelated (but also crappy) development, FiveOunces reports that EliteXC has banned its fighters from wearing Affliction clothing during cage entrances; the UFC put the kibosh on Affliction back in January. No word yet on whether EliteXC’s decision was made to prevent their fighters from promoting a competing MMA league, or because Affliction’s t-shirts offend Gary Shaw’s finely-tuned sense of style.
It was announced last night on “Inside MMA” that HDNet will soon air DREAM mixed martial arts events on its television network.
This news comes on the heels of word that Tokyo Broadcasting System in Japan yanked the DREAM primetime television deal because of lackluster ratings for the first-ever show last month.
No primtetime television exposure was the death knell for Pride FC overseas and it is possible that DREAM could endure the same fate in time. Hopefully, the recent deal with HDNet can keep DREAM afloat long enough to right the ship.
“As part of this exclusive broadcast agreement, HDNet will air DREAM 1 and DREAM 2 on May 2 and May 3 respectively, truly making the first weekend in May a ‘DREAM Weekend’ for MMA fans. Both broadcasts will begin at 10:30 ET. HDNet and HDNet Fights will also bring the next four DREAM events - DREAM 3 on May 11, DREAM 4 on June 15, DREAM 5 on July 21 and DREAM 6 on September 23 - to American and Canadian audiences.”
Check out the commercial after the jump … it’s nicely done.
Top ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko will fight Tim Sylvia on July 19. The Russian mixed martial arts champion confirmed the bout to Sherdog.com on Tuesday.
“[Sylvia] is a good fighter, a strong fighter, the former UFC heavyweight champion, which is important,” Emelianenko said via telephone from Stary Oskol, Russia. “I am looking forward to fighting him and training hard for this fight.”
While Emelianenko was short on details, Sherdog.com has learned through sources close to the negotiations that Fedor-Sylvia would headline a card tentatively scheduled for the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, the home base of HDNet Fights.
HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon declined to comment on the report, however sources indicate the bout will air on the Mark Cuban-owned network and is rumored to be promoted by Affliction, a clothing brand closely tied to MMA.
Emelianenko hasn’t faced an elite-level heavyweight since Mirko Filipovic at PRIDE Final Conflict in August 2005; we can’t wait to see where his skills currently stand, and if he really deserves to top our HW rankings. An interesting side-note to this booking is Monte Cox, who recently parted ways with Fedor when M-1 Global became Adrenaline MMA. Even though the fight won’t be held under the Adrenaline banner, Cox is still Tim Sylvia’s manager, which means he’ll still be getting paid at least 10% of a shit-ton of money. That, my friends, is how a smart gambler plays.
A fight between former UFC heavyweight champion and current Adrenaline MMA fighter, Tim Sylvia (24-4), and the last man to hold the Pride FC heavyweight strap, Fedor Emelianenko (27-1), is in the works for July 19 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas, according to Sherdog.com.
The blockbuster showdown would be promoted by Affliction and air on Mark Cuban’s HDNet network.
Here’s a snip from the Russian:
“[Sylvia] is a good fighter, a strong fighter, the former UFC heavyweight champion, which is important. I am looking forward to fighting him and training hard for this fight.”
Sylvia recently parted ways with the UFC in a split that has been categorized by both parties as amicable. The decision came after a submission loss to Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro: Nogueria at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” for the interim heavyweight championship in February.
With just one fight remaining on his contract — and another crack at the belt in the not so near future — “The Maine-iac” was granted permission to sign on with his long time manager, Monte Cox, who runs the upstart Adrenaline MMA promotion.
Prior to that Cox was the President and CEO of M-1 Global — a failed partnership between Russian and American backers that never staged a single event. The promotion was centered around Emelianenko; however, the two sides were at reportedly loggerheads when it came to compensation and competition.
Emelianenko became a free agent once he returned a $1.5 million signing bonus. And now he’s apparently set to kick-off 2008 with a fight against the 6′8″ Miletich-trained product, which would certainly be his biggest test since a fight with Mirko Cro Cop back in 2005.
Indeed, Emelianenko — once widely regarded as the most formidable pound-for-pound mixed martial artist on the planet — has taken a beating from critics because of his inability to take on top-level competition in recent years.
Hong Man Choi (freak show), Matt Lindland (a middleweight), and Mark Coleman (past his prime) are three of his last four opponents — not exactly the worthiest opponents for an individual who has been described as unbeatable in a sport in which anything can and often does happen.
Fedor, however, somehow seems to find ways to overcome those unpredictable odds … at least up until now.
It’s more than likely the case that Emelianenko will look to takedown “Big Tim” early and often to avoid that reach and his big punching power. Not to mention Emelianenko cuts very easily — it is the reason behind his only career defeat, in fact.
Sylvia has demonstrated decent takedown defense in the past; however, he has been susceptible to submissions throughout his seven-year professional career.
Definitely a very interesting match up if it comes to fruition. Randy Couture — the man who defeated Sylvia in March but is now embroiled in a bitter legal battle with the UFC because he wanted to fight Emelianenko — has got to be going nuts with this latest news.
Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.
(“Look, guys…the truth is, he’s not my ‘roommate’.”)
This should be exciting for the three of you who actually subscribe to HDNet. From an e-mail sent to us earlier:
Subject: Tune in tonight for breaking news from Tim Sylvia Body: “Inside MMA” airs tonight, March 28, at 9:30 p.m. ET, only on HDNet. This hour-long program brings you the most comprehensive MMA news. Don’t miss a minute, as this week’s “Inside MMA” will be breaking huge news in the MMA world concerning Tim Sylvia…..tune in to hear what Tim has to say!
An informed source has already confirmed to MMAWeekly that Sylvia was released from his UFC contract last week, though his manager (and M-1 Global’s former president/CEO) Monte Cox refused to confirm the split. If there’s nothing better on TV tonight, we’ll watch Inside MMA and let you know what happens. But you definitely owe us one, because that show is fucking painful.
